Kings Stanley Cup Play-off Season: Round 1, Game 4 - "Splitsville"

On this day in 2006, Dean Lombardi was named the eighth General Manager in Kings history. Dean was the brains behind the decision to draft a certain Drew Doughty in 2008, and put the wheels in motion for an 18 year old kid (incidentally born December 8th) wearing the number 8 to start the Kings down a road to redemption, including their first play-off win in 8 years. Got chills yet?


(If the Number 8 coincidences don't get you
excited, 20,000 rally towels should...)

Well, don't get too excited, because tonight proved that magic and coincidences around numbers is great, but putting together a play-off run takes hard work, and even some luck. The Kings put in plenty of work tonight, but didn't seem to have the right luck, losing a heart-breaker to Vancouver 6-4.



The "Luongo" chants started early on, and the Kings owned the first with Drew scoring his second play-off goal in high style and taking it to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.


(They call me Dewey. I score goals...BIG TIME goals...)

But the Canucks battled back during an up and down second period. Their first goal was 3:36 in, which Captain Dustin Brown answered at 5:56 with his first play-off goal.


(That's why he's the Captain!)

Ex-King Pavol Demitra made it 2-2, then Anze Kopitar scored his second play-off goal to make it 3-2 Kings by the end of the 2nd.

The Canucks really picked it up in the 3rd, and there were more goals scored by each side in a back and forth battle until it was knotted at 4-4. Then we got gypped on a missed tripping call, which led to the Canucks go-ahead goal and made it 5-4 with 2: 52 left. All of the Canucks fans that have been complaining on the Internet this week about all the calls that didn't go THEIR way in this series should finally be happy. Quickie got pulled for the extra attacker, we lost control of the puck, and Drew dove after it with all he had but couldn't stop it -- so the Canucks ended our night with an empty netter for a final score of 6-4.

So we split the series in Vancouver, and Vancouver split right back here in our house, and the series is currently tied 2-2. We knew this was going to be a battle before it started, and so far the series has been exactly what everyone expected. My "I Believe" sign even got a little banged up tonight, but my faith remains unshaken.



And on the plus side, this gives the Kings a chance to win the series at home Sunday if they can take the next two games. It's gonna be a nail-biter for sure, so stay tuned!

Before I turn in for the night, I have to give a special shout out to my Facebook friend and fellow Kings fan Adee Feiner, who I got to meet tonight for the first time. We even got her some Jumbotron exposure! Face time, Adee!


(That's Adee on the far left. Rachel is hogging the
face time in the middle...just kidding Rach!)

And thanks as always to my girls Rachel, Bri, and Jen for bringing the fun and creativity to warm-up watching.





Next, the Kings travel back to Vancouver for Game 5 on Friday. GO KINGS GO!